Employee engagement now “less engaging”

The mantra right now in HR circles is Employee Engagement. Everybody is talking about it and we send out surveys to measure it but we’re not even sure what we’re measuring!

We ask questions like “How likely are you to look for a new job this year?” but, in the absence of an actual invitation to apply for an actual job, will anyone know the answer to any reliable degree? We delude ourselves that we can measure a person’s likelihood of leaving us in the abstract, when they don’t have a job offer on the table.

Surveys are a way to gauge how people feel but you work among your employees – they are right there next to you working shoulder to shoulder with you. Why don’t you turn to them and ask them how they’re doing? You could make the topic “How are you doing?” an agenda item at every staff meeting – this would be much more “engaging”!

In addition, some of the top concerns which many employees have, such as crossed wires and miscommunication, unresolved issues, disturbance and uncertainty, confusion over future plans and strategy, can be addressed on the spot.

In these days when organisations large and small are complaining about a lack of talent and how hard it is to find people, you’d think that truly listening would be an ultra-high priority for every employer. We certainly know how to listen to our customers!

How to do you engage with your employees?

Adapted from an article by Liz Ryan, Forbes